oriecat

What if Adam & Eve hadn't sinned and been expelled from the garden? What would have happened?

It wasn't until they got thrown out that they "knew" each other and had children (Gen 4:1). God specifically said that the pain of childbirth would be one of Eve's punishments (Gen 3:16). Seems to me like they would have never had any children if they hadn't gotten thrown out (although I am sure it can be argued otherwise). If they hadn't gotten thrown out, the rest of humanity would have never existed. (Or would God have kept making the rest of us from dirt and ribs?)

So then how is it that God created the world to share his love with us, when we shouldn't have existed if everything had gone according to plan?

beastmaster

A&E weren't expelled as punishment for sinning. YHWH threw them out for fear that they would eat of the Tree of Life.

I think Genesis is at best ambiguous about when A&E first had children. It does not say how much time passed between the creation of the first man and woman and the events of Gen 3. It's not crystal clear from the naked text that Eve is the original woman made of the first man's rib; she could be a daughter or later generation. The fact that God curses Eve by *increasing* the pain of childbirth suggests that childbirth had happened before. Then again, the text is silent about any Eden offspring and tradition suggests there were none.

It's tough to conclude that the Fall was a condition precedent to the multiplication of man since YHWH's first command to A&E is "go forth and multiply." Sounds like they were fucking from the get-go.

Darth Dane

Or maybe, it WAS/IS teh plan that A&E was thrown out!

We need to re-establish our divine heritage, as Jesus showed us.
Jesus came and said that God wasn't angry, that heaven is spread upon earth, but people doesn't see it.

I am one with God, and so are you! You are not equal but one with God, as Jesus said on behalf of mankind!


Everything is going according to plan, always have and always will.





DD - Love

Loki

Gen 3 is my favorite chapter of the bible. I view it not as the fall of man, but but ascention of man. The story spells out the symbolic start of life; one is removed from a comfortable, insular setting for partaking in the fruit of knowledge of good and evil (opposites), and not yet allowed to partake of the fruit of life (which reappears in Revelations). We are part of the world, knowing opposites; pain, pleasure, up, down, good, evil, etc. We spend our lives trying to get back to the garden, which is evident in that Christ is the figural interpretation of the fruit of the tree of eternal life.

malookiemaloo

Greetings.

What makes you think that Adam and Eve would not have had children if they had not sinned?


m

gravitybow

If A&E had not sinned, I'm sure they still would have procreated. It doesn't make sense for Jehovah to pair up all the animals and man, command his creation to multiply, but leave the pinnacle of his effort to disappear without a single generation.

I don't think the serpent played his cards right. If I had been him, I would have had A&E eat from the tree of everlasting life first. Then whatever happened after that would be well known since A&E would still be alive today, making the lecture circuit, appearing with televangelists, attending ribbon-cutting ceremonies, etc.

BTW, why do you need a tree of eternal life in a world where death is unknown?

malookiemaloo

The tree of life would have been superfluous before Adam and Eve sinned. Indeed there is no reason to suppose that they did not eat of it. There certainly was no prohibition against this-just eating from the tree of knowledge of good and evil. Until the fall, that is.

Why was it there at all?

Maybe, just maybe, God knew all along what was going to happen.................

oriecat

Actually from what I can find the go forth and multiply command was to Noah and his sons (Gen 9:1). I find no such command to A&E, but maybe I am missing it.

oriecat

I had a feeling this would be said. So everything bad in the world appeared after the fall, there was no sin, life was perfect, until Eve screwed it up. At least that's what others say. How do you reconcile a loving god with a god who planned to release sin, death, disease, etc into the world? It's one thing for Pandora to open the box, not knowing what would happen. But god surely knew, especially if it was part of his own plan.

gravitybow

The command was, "Be fruitful and multiply." Genesis 1:28